Loaded with bacon, burger and even ketchup, mustard and pickles right inside, this Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili is your fav comfort food in a bowl!
Holy moly – cheeseburger in a bowl!? I mean…could there BE anything more delicious? This spinoff on your traditional chili is exactly what it sounds like. It has all of the fixins of a traditional “cheeseburger”, but they’re all chopped up and thrown right on in the pot. Oh, and it’s also Whole30 + Paleo, so we’re not using any real cheese…but, we’ll get to that.
This is going to become your ultimate weeknight meal, game day treat or comfort food go-to.
It’s meaty, rich, tangy + just freaking good. Let’s get into it:
Ingredients in Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili
The ingredients in this Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili probably won’t surprise you. They aren’t much different than what you’d find between your buns, alongside an order of fries. Here’s what you’ll need:
- ground beef – hard to have the burger without the burger, ha! You could use pork or turkey if you like, but beef really feels traditional.
- bacon – what’s a burger without bacon? But, you can totally leave it out if you need to.
- onion
- garlic
- potatoes – instead of fries on the side, we’ve just added potatoes straight to the chili! Feel free to leave these out if you’re low carb.
- tomatoes
- chili powder – not traditional on a burger, but necessary for chili!
- paprika
- ketchup + mustard – this adds the most amazing tang + makes this truly taste like a burger in a bowl.
- broth – feel free to use a homemade stock or a store-bought broth, whatever you have.
- pickles – dill pickles or relish really add such a great layer of flavour!
- salt + pepper
- optional: nutritional yeast – if you really want this to take like a “cheese” burger, the nutritional yeast will add that cheesy flavour, but without any dairy!
Prepping the Chili
This Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili is a really basic chili recipe. It’s super simple to make, the ingredients are what makes it special!
Start by browning the burger meat + removing it from the pan. Simple! Next, the bacon needs cooked – partly because we love crispy bacon, but also because we want that yummy bacon fat to cook our veggies in.
The next step is just a bit of dumping and stirring. Start with the onions, then the garlic and finally a bunch of the other ingredients like ketchup, mustard, pickles and spices.
Lastly, add the meats back in alongside of the chopped potatoes, which will act like our “fries” and the let cook!
After 25-30 minutes, your Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili will be thick, rich, tangy + ready to serve!
Putting it all together
The real magic of this Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili is how you put it all together. Once you’re ready to serve, go ahead and label up a nice big bowlful. I promise, you’ll want a good ole serving of this baby!
Then, top to your hearts content! You really can’t go wrong with loading this chili up. Chopped onion? YES! More pickles? DONE! Really, the sky is your limit. Add jalapeños, coconut yogurt, avocado, more bacon. Grain free chips (or regular tortilla chips) would be a real winner too. (If you’re not worried about dairy, you could totally add some real cheese to really put this over the top).
I promise you that this chili is something the entire family is going to adore. It’s smokey + meaty, comforting + just what your cheeseburger craving heart needs.
When you make this recipe, I’d LOVE to hear what you think, so be sure to tag me in any photos over on instagram. Also, I’d love you forever if you left a little rating/review down below with just what you thought. It really does help other people to find my delicious recipes, like this Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili!
P.S. Love the idea of this meal? You will love, love, love my Whole30 Ground Beef and Broccoli. Or another winner? My Whole30 Paleo Ground Beef Stroganoff!
Whole30 Cheeseburger Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 6 pieces bacon
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium white potatoes chopped (**leave out for Keto)
- 2 14 oz cans chopped or crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup ketchup (**make sure it's sugar free for Whole30 + Keto)
- 2 tbsp mustard (**ensure it's alcohol free for Whole30)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup broth or stock
- 1/3 cup choppped dill pickles or dill relish (**sugar-free for Whole30 and Keto)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (***optional, but creates the cheesy taste!)
Toppings
- chopped lettuce
- chopped tomato
- chopped red onion
- jalapeno
- extra bacon
- avocado
- nutritional yeast
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven (or soup pot), cook the ground beef over medium heat until it's completley browned and cooked through. Remove the beef from the pan.
- To the same pan, add the chopped bacon and cook until crispy and the fat has rendered out. Remove the bacon, but be sure to leave all of the delicious fat!
- Add the chopped onion to the bacon grease and allow it to soften for 2-3 minutes before adding the garlic.
- In 1-2 minutes, once the garlic smells lovely and fragrant, add the chopped tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, spices, vinegar, broth, pickles, salt and pepper. Stir well!
- Next, add back in the cooked beef, cooked bacon and the chopped white potatoes.
- Allow the chili to come to a boil and then turn it down to low heat and cover wtih a lid. Let the chili simmer (lightly bubble) on the stove for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and the chili is thick and delicious!
- Serve in a bowl with as many of the additional toppings as you'd like!
Oh YUM this looks amazing Jessica, can’t wait to try it! Question: where do you find dill pickles in the UK? They’re on of those ingredients that I can’t seem to find anywhere over here. Everything seems to be sweet!
Hi sweet Whit! I actually usually just use the gherkins they sell at Sainsbury, ha! I have found Dill Pickles, but they cost a million pounds, ha! The gherkins have a tiny bit of sugar in them, but still add the same vinegary bite 🙂
This was so good! I follow the low fodmap diet, so I left the onion and garlic out, and it still had so much flavor. Even my husband who normally doesn’t like chili liked this!
Julie this made my entire day! And what a good adjustment to leave out what you needed to for staying Low Fodmap. Thanks for leaving a review – it helps so much!